Awards or concert, Beijing has hidden agenda, TSU says

By Chris Wang / Staff reporter

Thu, Dec 13, 2012 - Page 3

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday condemned the government’s conditional approval of a Chinese event to be held at the end of this month in Taipei and said it would mobilize people to protest during the concert.

An interagency meeting gave the go-ahead on Tuesday for the controversial Chinese Music Chart Awards (中國歌曲排行榜), to be held on Dec. 29, although it will be limited to performances only, with no awards ceremony permitted, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said.

“Regardless of which format, a concert or an awards ceremony, the event adopts, there is no denying that it is being staged in Taiwan with a hidden agenda [of promoting] Beijing’s ‘united front’ tactic,’” TSU caucus whip Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲) said.

Huang told a press conference that the party would mobilize supporters to attend the event and lodge a protest if it sees any attempt to belittle Taiwan’s sovereignty.

While the government has set limitations on the event, including its official title, the number of Taiwanese hosts at the event and the wording of the participants’ comments, there is no guarantee that the event would proceed without a hitch, she said.

The NIA and the Mainland Affairs Council have pledged to monitor the event closely and hand down fines if there are any violations, but Huang said the fine would be too late and meaningless if Taiwan’s sovereignty had been jeopardized.

Organizers of the Chinese Music Chart Awards, a famous Mandarin pop music awards ceremony in China, unilaterally announced in Beijing on Nov. 30 that this year’s award presentation ceremony would be held in Taipei to mark the chart’s 20th anniversary.

The announcement drew the ire of opposition parties, which said that if the event were to take place in Taipei, it would be a denigration of the Republic of China’s sovereign status because the 16 categories of the awards are divided into two groups — China and Hong Kong/Taiwan.

Separately, the TSU also accused the agency of lying about a Chinese official’s itinerary and demanded the official be deported immediately for his comments at a forum promoting the “one China” ideology.

The comments made by Taiwan Affairs Office deputy director Sun Yafu (孫亞夫) about “one China” and the “one China framework” at a two-day forum on cross-strait relations “violated Taiwan’s sovereignty and Sun should be deported immediately,” Huang said.

The agency said Sun left Taiwan yesterday after the conclusion of the forum.

Citing unnamed sources, Huang said Sun had arranged for a two-week stay in Taiwan, during which he would visit Sun Moon Lake, Alishan and other places, and the NIA had tried to concealed Sun’s visit from the public.

TSU Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) said Sun’s comments could no longer be seen as academic views at an academic setting.

Mainland Affairs Council official He Sheng-fei (何聖飛) said the ministry still regarded Sun’s comments as academic.